Wednesday/Thursday BP: Preparing for heartbreak

Good morning, baseball fans!

It’s that time of year again, the stove is heating up, the rumors are flying, and the San Francisco Giants are reportedly in the mix on the biggest free agent in the market.

That can mean only one thing: It’s time to shield your hearts for the inevitable letdown.

Former fearless leader Grant Brisbee wrote a neat profile over on The Athletic, in which he spells out all the reasons why the Giants make a lot of sense for superstar Shohei Ohtani, and why that might ultimately not mean anything.

Meanwhile, our current fearless leader Brady wrote earlier this week about how the Giants are likely to only be in the mix on Ohtani in so much as they will add zeros to the eventual deal he makes with another team.

Jeff Young over at Around the Foghorn wrote about the odd timing of the recent chatter about how the Giants will be unlikely to be outbid and how (for lack of a better word from me here) sus that is. And I would have to agree.

Tying all three of these points together is history. The cynical among us may have lost faith in the ownership and front office’s ability to actually sign a big free agent. The less cynical likely attribute recent failures to bad luck, a confluence of factors outside of their control.

Whichever the case may be, everyone in the game knows that the Giants are perpetual second-place finishers when it comes to free agency and it feels like that’s being weaponized in the market. Which is annoying. I want my team to spend big on signing generational talent. Not be used to drive up the cost for someone else to spend big on signing generational talent.

But alas, year after year, that seems to be their role. So I’m preparing myself now for runner-up blues.